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LCQ19: Hawker Permitted Area at Tung Choi Street
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    Following is a question by the Hon James To and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (July 4):

Question:

     The hawker permitted area (HPA) located at Tung Choi Street (commonly known as "Women's Street") in Mongkok is a popular tourist attraction.  However, some tourists say that the place is not only overcrowded but also stifling, and the shopping environment there is unsatisfactory.  Some residents also complain that large quantities of different objects are often piled up on the pavements on both sides of the HPA, and the frames of the stalls are untidy.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)  of the number of stalls planned for the HPA, with their distribution shown on a sketch map;

(b)  whether each stall in the HPA is required to be operated by a holder of the relevant hawker licence, and of the measures taken to ensure that stalls are operated by the licence holders; whether the relevant authorities have ever found that the stalls in the HPA were operated by non-licensees, and how such cases were dealt with;

(c)  of the change in the number of stalls in the HPA since its establishment;

(d)  of the respective numbers of hawker licences which have been surrendered by stall owners on their own initiatives and cancelled by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) for various reasons since the establishment of the HPA;

(e)  of the number of complaints received in the past three years by FEHD about the management problem of the HPA, the number of substantiated complaints among them, and the penalty imposed on the stall owners concerned (if applicable), with the figures broken down by the subject of complaints; and

(f)  whether there are plans to improve the shopping environment of the HPA, such as by restructuring the locations of the stalls?

Reply:

Madam President:

(a)  The Hawker Permitted Area at Tung Choi Street (the Permitted Area) has 1 052 fixed pitch stall positions.  Please see the Annex for the sketch map of the positions of the fixed pitch stalls in the Permitted Area.

(b)  The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) requires that each fixed pitch stall be operated by one licensed hawker.  The Hawker Regulation (Cap 132 sub. leg.) provides that the licensee must be personally present at the fixed pitch stall to operate or supervise the business.  The FEHD staff will check the licence of the operators from time to time during inspections to confirm that they are the licensees concerned.  If any licensee is found absent without reasonable explanation, FEHD staff will issue a verbal warning and, where such situation persists, issue a written warning to the licensee.  In the three years between June 1, 2004 and May 31, 2007, the FEHD has issued 60 written warnings to licensees who did not operate their stall business in person.  On receiving the warning letters, the licensees concerned resumed operating their stall business in person.

(c)  The number of fixed pitch stall positions at Tung Choi Street Hawker Permitted Area has remained steady at 1 052 since its opening in 1979.  Owing to natural attrition and voluntary surrender of licence for cancellation, the number of fixed pitch hawkers operating at the Permitted Area is gradually reduced to the present 731.

(d)  In the three years between June 1, 2004 and May 31, 2007, eight licensees at the above-mentioned Permitted Area have surrendered their hawker licences to the FEHD for cancellation.  The Government has not cancelled any hawker licence for the Permitted Area during the said period.

(e)  In the three years between June 1, 2004 and May 31, 2007, the FEHD received a total of 150 complaints concerning the Permitted Area.  Amongst these complaints, 103 cases were related to obstruction of public places, four to illegal occupation of hawker stalls, nine to illegal extension of business area, 29 to putting up stall structures prior to the permitted hour, two to illegal connection to electricity supply, and three to noise nuisance during operation.

     The FEHD has always been proactive in managing the Permitted Area.  In the three years between June 1, 2004 and May 31, 2007, the FEHD, with the relevant statutory powers, instituted a total of 251 prosecutions against obstruction, illegal extension of business area, putting up stall structures prior to permitted hour and illegal occupation of hawker stalls in the Permitted Area.  The stall operators were imposed a fine ranging from $200 to $800.

(f)  The FEHD has always been assiduous in maintaining order in the Permitted Area.  It deploys its hawker control teams to patrol the Permitted Area daily.  Upon discovery of any infringement, the team will issue a verbal warning, and when warnings fail to achieve the desired effect, institute prosecution.  Apart from stepping up law enforcement, the FEHD also meets with hawker representatives from the Permitted Area regularly to strengthen communication and advise them to exercise self-regulation in ensuring obstruction free access.  Moreover, the FEHD also actively works with the hawker representatives in improving the design of their stalls and display of commodities to improve the streetscape and overall business environment of the Permitted Area.

Ends/Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:30

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